Okay, while we’re on the subject of clothes, and office clothes for women, let’s talk about my main pet peeve. Sexy and the office worker. I am so sick of fashion pushing a “sexy” look for the office. It’s like every outfit has a sexy twist. “Oh, here’s a business jacket that you can throw a sexy little cami under!” Where do you work? They talk about people who do that in my office. We’re talking about clothes that I’ll wear to make a living. Uhm. I’m not a prostitute. My wage earning in no way is reliant on my looking like a hot prospect. There are a lot of things I can be concerned with during my work day. Sexy ain’t one of them. I got stuff to do.
Here are the things I do need my office wear to project:
Professional
Approachable
Clean
Appropriately fitted
Here are the things that I would like to have in addition:
Pretty
Friendly
Comfortable
Attractive (as in people will want to talk to me, not as in people will want to jump my bones)
But also, uhm, I’m not a nun. I do not need to look entirely sexless either. It’s a new day in America, and I do not feel the need to look like a man. I can look like a woman. I just don’t need to look like a woman looking for a good time. No sexy librarian. No executive/dominatrix. No lady in the streets, but a freak in the sheets. No “lingerie inspired” casual Friday. My private life is my private life and my business life is my business life.
So where are the clothes that live in the borderland between sexy and sexless? It’s not like it’s a tiny target. There’s a big difference between a wimple and ho gear. You’d think it would be easy for designers to just whip out something that would fall anywhere in that area. But from the shopping I've been doing, apparently not.
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8 comments:
Sigh. The story of my life. I am 40 - not 12, not 20, not 70. I still want to look nice but not slutty and not OLD. I cannot sport mini skirts anymore and I'm fine with that, but I don't want to look like the Amish either. Where the heck am I supposed to shop?
Just one example. I need a pair of black pants for work. I would like a pair of trousers in a kind of "menswear" look if possible. I don't need a suit pair of pants, just a nice pair. Nothing stretchy or too thin. I can't find anything I like. Either the material is too clingy and shows every lump and bump I do have OR it's too stodgy. Mike does not understand why I can't find a pair of black pants - the most basic element in a wardrobe! I have looked high and low and I don't like anything and I am really not that picky.
The too thin and stretchy! The bane of my shopping existence. Who wants these pants?? They are absolutely useless as work pants. Right now, I'm living in the Dockers store at Amazon. It's the only place that has fairly decent work pants at a fairly decent price. And in 3 lengths. They're kind of plain as hell, but I can live with that. The juniors depatrment/got my first job! pants are just not happening.
You're just going to have to learn how to sew.
Hello? Hello? Hmmm, guess you didn't want to hear that. It's OK----sewing doesn't solve all the wardrobe problems anyway, no matter what your age.
I actually can sew a little. I can follow a basic pattern or hem a pair of pants. And I went through a kick of doing my own Halloween costumes. But doing clothes that look like clothes and not a home-ec project is just a level of skill I never achieved. And I've never been good enough that I've felt like investing in a really good machine. Though I recently found a pattern for a very cute knitted skirt. No seriously, it really is cute. I may try it once I've caught up on all the projects I've promised other people.
of all places JC Penney has a nice line for working girls (not that kind of working!) - with well-cut black pants that hang right and are of quality fabric
Penney's has come a long way in the past couple of years. But I've come to the conclusion that, like Chico's, either you have a JC Penney body, or you don't. They just fit me wrong in so may ways. Shame too, because I live close to an outlet that has some smoking deals.
I found some great stuff at Penney's last spring but nothing so far this year. I think only supremely skinny chicks with NO body fat or someone who doesn't care wears those thin/stretchy pants. Ugh. I shop at Chico's sometimes, but it's a) expensive and b) aimed a little older than me. Chico' clothes also make me feel like I should be going to The Club with my husband, Winston to dine with my very dear friends Kendall and Chip. It's just not my style overall (but some stuff is ok)
I am a home ec flunkie. I made a skirt and found out after I had pinned the entire pattern to my material, that I had pinned it to the carpet underneath as well and had to start over.
Some of Chico's stuff is very pretty, and lasts forever. But it's all basically square. And when you're a ruler body type with virtually no natural curves, you can use all the artificial help you can get.
Don't feel bad. I sewed my thumb on the machine in junior high. Twice. A pain like you can't imagine. But being able to sew things like a temporary pair of curtains or fix the butt on a pair of pants is the seam gives has been handy over the years. I just watch where my thumbs go very carefully.
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